Here are some ideas for conducting SHG meetings; Please adapt them to your needs. Experiment with new ideas.
| SN | Activity | Purpose / benefit | Facilitator’s role | Approx Time |
| 1 | Preliminaries: 1. Welcome everyone with warmth. 2. Make them sit in a circle 3. Tell them briefly what you are going to do today and what time meting is expected to be over. | Sitting in circle promotes equality and better communication | Make adjustments to ensure everyone is comfortable (a girl may want to sit with another girl rather than a stranger..) | 10-15 minutes |
| 2 | Introductions: You can do it in two rounds: 1. People just tell their name only, demonstrating their popular speech technique (I would say- my name is s-s-s-sachin. This is called bouncing.) 2. In second round everyone can speak a few more words about themselves/ their work/ their hobbies/ families etc. | Everyone should get to know one another’s first name and be comfortable using it. | Make sure that people dont use more than allotted 2 minutes for the second round. No one should interrupt, prompt, help or correct others. Let group cheer when each member finishes speaking. | 20-30 minutes |
| 3 | Reading together: Have photocopied text for this purpose. Ask 4-5 members to read same text together after counting “1,2,3”. | This will make most PWS to be fluent and feel better as a result. | Group people with similar personalities (age , gender) together- making sure that they dont feel intimidated by others. | 20-30 minutes |
| 4 | Reading in twos or alone (as above) same text | This will be a little bit more difficult but many PWS will rise to the challenge and will feel more confident having succeeded at it. | Make sure people dont exceed allotted time. Afterwards, ask them to share their feelings: how did they feel reading alone in a group? | 20-30 minutes |
| 5 | Conclusion 1) Thank them. 2) Remind them three TISA vows (1. I accept myself with my stutter. 2. I accept others who stutter. 3. I will try to serve other PWS). 3) Agree on venue, time and agenda for the next meet. 4) Say Good bye! | The three vows are the philosophical foundation of TISA. They promote better attitude. | Be as participatory / democratic as possible while deciding venue, time and agenda. But if no progress is being made and time is short, take the initiative and decisions, as the Chapter coordinator. | 20 minutes. |
| Total~ 2 hrs | ||||
| NB: Item 1 & 2 above may change or become brief after the group has been meeting for sometime regularly. 3 & 4 above are the core activities which should be changed with other relevant activities in every meeting (See TISA Manual in the file section of Yahoo group “IPWS” for more examples). The most important thing is to encourage people to talk, and to praise them when they do talk. Make sure that everyone relaxes and talks. | ||||
